In response to P&G removing YouTube videos on the "Tide Pod Challenge": Does P&G really think this is a solution to the Tide Pod Challenge and toddlers getting a hold of Tide Pods? No! P&G should altogether discontinue the product. Obviously, it is not a safe item, and, yes, it is a shame that teens who should know better are doing this challenge. If P&G has to put zip locks on the product bags, something has to give with still selling the product.

Elizabeth Burress, Montgomery

Congress should go without pay during government shutdown

During the shutdown, the armed forces put their life on the line without pay. They may miss mortgage payments and encounter other hardships. Yet members of Congress have no lapse in pay. The taxpayers even had to pay for the dinner Congress ate on the evening of the vote.

David Berry, Harrison

Cincinnati is bigger than Amazon, must look beyond HQ2 chase

Life in our city doesn’t end now that Amazon has passed us by. Don’t take their snub as a direct insult, either. Amazon seems motivated more by tax incentives than international airports, transit, or a highly skilled labor force. We best our closest peers in that race and Newark’s $7 billion promise was obviously more enticing than Amazon’s original wish list.

As Enquirer columnist Jason Williams points out, we should embark on a soul-searching exercise. But not to woo the next West Coast tech giant. Over Cincinnati’s upcoming turbulent years, we may come to realize that large corporations are not always stable partners. GE may soon break up and leave us with an empty building on The Banks, and voices are rising to force Amazon and Apple down the same breakup path. And where would that leave their HQ2s?

Instead, we need to refocus from racing to subsidize the contender du jour to investing in ourselves. In our field of urban planning, many believe that in searching for a high quality of life, people will vote with their feet and jobs will follow. Cincinnati has excellent bones, given its historic districts, higher education, parks, and culture. We innovate, we create. We’re gorgeous. So why are so many of the creatives and innovators moving to Pittsburgh and Nashville?

We leave too many of our assets on the table. The new American elite has a surprisingly similar wish list to Amazon. And they will keep to it. They don’t need a riverfront stadium empty 355 days a year; they need a vibrant downtown. They don’t need a $2.6 billion dollar highway bridge; they need an effective transit system. Or even a dedicated bike lane or two. Many are searching for vibrant urban neighborhoods and quality schools. If we want to attract the attention of the next Bezos, Ives or Cook, we need to set aside differences and dogmas and do what we know how to do. Plan for a better urban future.

Conrad Kickert, assistant professor of Urban Design at the University of Cincinnati

Focus immigration on what immigrants can do for America

Regardless of how you feel about President Trump’s description of countries which are undesirable sources of immigrants, it is absolutely in our national interest to define a priority for acceptance. And so, my fellow Americans (to paraphrase JFK’s famous inaugural address), U.S. immigration policy should ask not what our country can do for the immigrant, but what the immigrant can do for our country!

Mike Emerine, Cold Spring

Zoo levy deserves its own line on coming primary ballot

I am writing in support of the Cincinnati Zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo has been a place where my family has enjoyed countless hours of amazing learning experiences. I hope the Zoo will be on the primary ballot with an inflationary increase this May.

Denise Gainey, Blue Ash

WRITING LETTERS OR OP-EDS: Letters of up to 200 words may be submitted by filling out the form at static.cincinnati.com/letter/ or emailing letters@enquirer.com. Include name, address, community and daytime phone number. Op-eds are submitted the same way except they should be 500-600 words and also include a one-sentence bio and headshot.